Why hasn't McCain reported his gambling gains and losses on his tax returns?

[Popeye]

I previously started a thread about John McCain's gambling habit Now it appears there may be little more to this gambling story than originally thought.

The question has been raised why hasn't McCain reported his gambling gains and losses on his tax returns?

What makes this lack of reporting more than a bit odd is we are talking about a guy who typically spent thousands of dollars on accountants to file his returns. He can't claim "I messed up" because he had professionals filling out the paperwork. Moreover, the returns that are part of the public record go into such fine detail they even note such trivial things as a mere 14 bucks in interest from a JP Morgan account (cf. 2006 tax returns) - yet in these same forms line 21 is totally blank. When you look at his Schedule A, you see a similar degree of scrupulous detail... yet there is still no mention of any gambling losses. So as far as the returns go, he never gambled. That is hard to reconcile with the fact it is well-known that he is a high-stakes craps player. ...

If he is winning and not declaring -- that's a crime. If he is losing and not taking the deductions, that is peculiar for a lot of obvious reasons. It means he never wins. If he is losing his own money and not taking the deduction, it looks like he is trying to hide a problem. If he is losing other people's money that certainly raises questions about influence peddling if they have business in front of his committee. Whether he is winning or losing, it doesn't take a whole lot of imagination to see how a lobbyist bankrolling the senator's marathon craps session might be using this as a way of funnelling money into the senator's coffers without drawing attention to the transactions.

Will the media take a look at this story, I doubt it. Can you imagine if it was Obama who was the high stakes craps player with no mention of it on his tax returns? The media, particularly Faux, would be in an uproar.

 

[Federal Farmer]

I previously started a thread about John McCain's gambling habit Now it appears there may be little more to this gambling story than originally thought.

More DailyKooks non-sense. Can't ANY of you stick to the substantive issues?

 

[Popeye]

More DailyKooks non-sense. Can't ANY of you stick to the substantive issues?

While I guess Kos originally raised the issue, the link to the professor's blog doesn't look to be nonsense. He appears to know what he's talking about and raises a valid question, one that you appear unable to deal with.

 

[Federal Farmer]

While I guess Kos originally raised the issue, the link to the professor's blog doesn't look to be nonsense. He appears to know what he's talking about and raises a valid question, one that you appear unable to deal with.

I refuse to accept ANY "rumor mongering" from ANYONE! Read the story you yourself linked to. There are more "IF'S" in it than in any scientific roundtable discussion I've ever witnessed!

Take this entire paragraph for instance (I'm taking the liberty of enhancing all of the "questionables");

IF he is winning and not declaring -- that's a crime. IF he is losing and not taking the deductions, that is peculiar for a lot of obvious reasons. It means he never wins. IF he is losing his own money and not taking the deduction, it looks like he is trying to hide a problem. IF he is losing other people's money that certainly raises questions about influence peddling IF they have business in front of his committee. Whether he is winning or losing, it doesn't take a whole lot of imagination to see how a lobbyist bankrolling the senator's marathon craps session might be using this as a way of funneling money into the senator's coffers without drawing attention to the transactions.

This ASSHOLE made a leap that would make Jesse Owes proud by taking all manner of suppositions (totally unsupported by ANY fact) and then spinning it into some kind of accusation that some Lobbyist is "bankrolling" him (also totally unsubstantiated) in an effort to contribute money to his campaign fund (also totally unsubstantiated). I haven't seen that many twists and turns in such a short timespan since Greg Louganis's performance on the 10 meter platform in the '84 Olympics and Laura Wilkinson's in the '00 Olympics!

 

[Popeye]

I refuse to accept ANY "rumor mongering" from ANYONE! Read the story you yourself linked to. There are more "IF'S" in it than in any scientific roundtable discussion I've ever witnessed!

Take this entire paragraph for instance (I'm taking the liberty of enhancing all of the "questionables");


This ASSHOLE made a leap that would make Jesse Owes proud by taking all manner of suppositions (totally unsupported by ANY fact) and then spinning it into some kind of accusation that some Lobbyist is "bankrolling" him (also totally unsubstantiated) in an effort to contribute money to his campaign fund (also totally unsubstantiated). I haven't seen that many twists and turns in such a short timespan since Greg Louganis's performance on the 10 meter platform in the '84 Olympics and Laura Wilkinson's in the '00 Olympics!

The use of the word "if" was needed because the professor is unsure whether McCain has been winning or losing. He also uses it in the context of speculating as to why McCain would try to hide this fact. Remember, if he is winning and not declaring he is breaking the law.

What doesn't appear to be iffy however is that McCain hasn't reported any gains or losses from the thousands that he has admittedly wagered. The only real question here is, why?

 

[Federal Farmer]

The use of the word "if" was needed because the professor is unsure whether McCain has been winning or losing. He also uses it in the context of speculating as to why McCain would try to hide this fact. Remember, if he is winning and not declaring he is breaking the law.

It's ALL pure speculation with NOTHING to substantiate it. If he had won, he'd have been issued a W-G by the CASINO! They HAVE to issue a W-G to ANYONE who wins more than $600.00. The LACK of a W-G is clear evidence that he DID NOT win more than $600.00, or are you saying that the Casino is in cahoots with McCain?

What doesn't appear to be iffy however is that McCain hasn't reported any gains or losses from the thousands that he has admittedly wagered. The only real question here is, why?

Maybe he BROKE EVEN. No winnings, no losses, no need to declare ANYTHING. Hell, I've gone to Vegas and Reno and come out a few hundred behind, but I didn't try to write it off on my taxes. Not because I was trying to "hide" anything, but because I considered it part of the cost of the trip. I've also gone and come out a couple of hundred ahead, so, no need to declare ANYTHING. I've gone and come out a couple of thousand ahead (once) and was issued a W-G and HAD to declare it, so I did.

You're STILL trying to pick gnat-sh** out of pepper Popeye, because THAT'S ALL YOU'VE GOT. You, the DailyKooks, Huffingbiotch, and all the rest of you that engage in this type of stupidity are nothing but morons.

 

[Libsmasher]

I refuse to accept ANY "rumor mongering" from ANYONE! Read the story you yourself linked to. There are more "IF'S" in it than in any scientific roundtable discussion I've ever witnessed!

Take this entire paragraph for instance (I'm taking the liberty of enhancing all of the "questionables");


This ASSHOLE made a leap that would make Jesse Owes proud by taking all manner of suppositions (totally unsupported by ANY fact) and then spinning it into some kind of accusation that some Lobbyist is "bankrolling" him (also totally unsubstantiated) in an effort to contribute money to his campaign fund (also totally unsubstantiated). I haven't seen that many twists and turns in such a short timespan since Greg Louganis's performance on the 10 meter platform in the '84 Olympics and Laura Wilkinson's in the '00 Olympics!

The source for Poop-I's slur du jour, like most of them, is the Daily Kos. REAL CREDIBLE. Why do you even bother to take note of this crap?

 

[Cookie Parker]

More DailyKooks non-sense. Can't ANY of you stick to the substantive issues?

Breaking the law is substantive, don't you think?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/john-mccains-gambling-pro_b_111203.html

 

[Cookie Parker]

The source for Poop-I's slur du jour, like most of them, is the Daily Kos. REAL CREDIBLE. Why do you even bother to take note of this crap?

There are SEVERAL reliable sources covering this!!

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/john_mccain_gambling_addict.php

 

[Cookie Parker]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819898-2,00.html

Including the conservative Time corporation.

 

[Federal Farmer]

Cookie, first off, I'm not even going to read anything from Huffingbiotch. It's GARBAGE, and not fit to line a bird-cage. Secondly, The Atlantic? Not much better. As for the Time piece, no mention of any specific amounts of winnings or losings, so moot to the point of the conversation.

 

[Cookie Parker]

Cookie, first off, I'm not even going to read anything from Huffingbiotch. It's GARBAGE, and not fit to line a bird-cage. Secondly, The Atlantic? Not much better. As for the Time piece, no mention of any specific amounts of winnings or losings, so moot to the point of the conversation.

ROFLMAO!!!

Just like a repub. Well, guess what? A LOT of people read these publications and 76% of Americans do NOT want another republican president because they do NOT think the policies of republicans have HELPED our nation.

Moot or not, McCain is the republican's worse nightmare...from temper to insanity to gambling...to memory lapse and flip flopping.

 

[Federal Farmer]

ROFLMAO!!!

Just like a repub. Well, guess what? A LOT of people read these publications and 76% of Americans do NOT want another republican president because they do NOT think the policies of republicans have HELPED our nation.

Moot or not, McCain is the republican's worse nightmare...from temper to insanity to gambling...to memory lapse and flip flopping.

Care to cite your statistics, from a REPUTABLE source (Huffingbiotch.com and DailyKooks do NOT count). A LOT of people read that garbage? No joke, it's obvious from the sheer lack of critical thinking skills that most people exhibit today that that's about all they can handle, aside from the big pre-school crayons.

The fact is that this is nothing but school yard "gotcha" games, and they don't mean squat, and anyone who engages in this type of tripe is too dumb to be allowed to vote.

 

[foggedinn]

Virtually everyone loses at the casino, especially if their a regular.

For rather obvious reasons, the IRS has set up the deductibility rules so that a taxpayer can't declare greater gambling loses than declared gambling winings. There can be no net tax gain to the taxpayer by declaring gambling loses. There can only be net gain to the IRS by declaring gambling winnings.

Except for jackpots that can't avoid being declared, why would anyone declare anything about gambling to the IRS.

 

[Libsmasher]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819898-2,00.html

Including the conservative Time corporation.

TIME "conservative"???

Oh, god, you are the most hillarious poster I've ever read!!! Keep those howlers coming! HA HA HEEE HEEEEEEEE!!!